Officials say the search for a prominent US outdoors writer on Mount Rainier has been suspended after a female body was found.

The Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman, Patti Wold, said the body had not been identified, but it was located on Saturday in the general area where teams had been searching for 70-year-old Karen Sykes.

Wold said the body was found in rough, steep terrain – an area difficult to access and not commonly travelled.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death, and Wold said the medical examiner would determine the person's identity.

Sykes hadn't been seen since she separated from her hiking partner on Wednesday.

Sykes was reportedly working on a story when she and her partner encountered snow at about 5,000ft (1,500m). Her partner stayed as she went on, with the idea that they would reconvene, but she never turned up.

Sykes had adequate survival gear to camp overnight in an emergency, Wold said. Her friends had hoped that searchers would find her safely sheltered.

Her disappearance came weeks after six climbers were believed to have fallen to their deaths while attempting to climb a challenging route to the summit of the 14,410ft peak south-east of Seattle.